Page:History of Adelaide and vicinity.djvu/82

 56 ADHLAIDK AND VICINITY The BuUder. of miles of unknown country that the most romantic and adventurous episodes in Australian history were enacted. A way had to be forc(xl through thick bush, dangerous natives had to be fought. large rivers had to be forded, waterless stretches had to be crossed, and all the time the utmost care had to be exercised to nurse the strength of the stock. This subject has been the theme of many Australian tales. Mr. Hawden was accomiKinied by nine men, and drove before him 325 bullocks, cows, heifers, and horses. He proceeded to the Goulburn and the Murrumbidgee, followed the left bank of the hitter, and crossed the Murray near its junction with the Darling. He discovered two lakes, and named one Victoria, after Her Majesty, and the other Bonney, after Mr. C. Bonney. He reached Adelaide on April 3, 1838. Mr. ¥.. J. Eyre and Captain Sturt each conducted a party with cattle from New South Wales to Adelaide during the ensuing few months. These parties supplied useful information to the Governments concerned relative to the pastoral and agricultural capabilities of the territory passed through. In October. 1838. there were estimated to be 22,500 sheep, 2,175 cattle, and 233 horses in South Australia. Of all the attempts made to develop the country, those of the South Australian Comjjany were jjrobabl) the most earnest. Through its projector, Mr. G. F. Angas, it had given the first impul.se towards establishing the Province, and it now sought to further enhance its value by forming the nucleus of local prosperity. Because of the delay in land surveys it could not at first pursue all the developmental work set fi:)rth in the and there followed him ship-builders, vine-dressers, orchardists, fishermen, schoolmasters, mechanics, and laborers. As early as December 26, 1836 (before the proclamation of the Province), the Company shijjped from Kangarco Island to Van Diemen Land three barrels of salted fish, containing 1.359 mullets and 605 lbs. of skipjacks. It established whaling stations in Hnccunter Bay and, later, at Thistle Island ; introduced pure merino rams and ewes from Saxcny, as well as excellent breeds of Leicester and South Devon sheep : planted orchards ; and erected numbers of buildings. The Company was so prominently a.ssociated with the Province, that everything it owned was familiarly referred to as the •'Company's." Originally it pos.ses.sed 102 town acres in Adelaide, and 13,770 country acres; and when the town lands were .sold in March, 1837, it purchased 66 additional town acres. Soon after its formation it was declared that the Company would establish a bank m South Australia; and on January 12, 1837, the ship Coroviandcl arrived in Holdfast Hay with a supply of specie and small notes, aggregating / 10,000 in value, with the entire plant of the bank, and a framed banking-house. A building was erected, and Mr. Edward Stephens was appointed cashier and accountant. The bank was one of issue, discount, deposit, and loan, and undertook the collection of small debts. It .supplied the JLSsisted the Government at rea.sonable rates, and Governor Hindmarsh obtained ^5,000 from it. I he bank at once became a medium of exchange between (ireat Britain and the
 * )ros|)ectus. In 1837 Mr. McLaren, chief commercial manager, arrived in the Province,
 * )lace of a sjivings bank, and offered loans to settlers on the security of property ; it